Lanigan Students Become Leather Craftsmen

Lanigan Elementary School fourth-graders are now leather craftsmen.
Under the direction of Dylan Garrow, sales associate at Tandy Leather in Syracuse, students used wooden mallets to pound metal stamps into strips of leather (from cow hide) to create bookmarks.
Classes learned that leather is soft and pliable and a good material to make clothing. Garrow said hide from many different animals may also be used for rugs, upholstery, handbags and clothing. A favorite among students in Janet Rolf’s fourth-grade class was the rock python snake skin, which stretched over six-feet in length, but Garrow also let the class feel other hide types.
“I want the rabbit one!” said Skyy Smith.
Students were engaged in the presentation, asking Garrow questions related to multiple animals, hide types, leather bracelets and how other parts of animals may be used.
Garrow said Tandy Leather, a leather supply store, aims to help get people back to working with their hands to keep old traditions alive. That falls in line with what the fourth-graders have done in class, as they recently completed longhouse projects and learned how Native Americans were able to build them.
Fourth-graders also are in the midst of an academic unit on New York State, and recently prepared tags to be hung on a tree at the Pratt House Museum, in Fulton, so visitors can learn more various facts.Lanigan Fourth-graders Jordyn Woodcock and Vincent Hubbard
work on stamping leather bookmarks during a presentation from
Dylan Garrow, of Tandy Leather in Syracuse.

Lanigan Elementary School fourth-graders feel rabbit fur. Dylan
Garrow, of Tandy Leather in Syracuse, brought many hides for
students to explore. The students have been learning about Native
American traditions and are working on a unit on New York State.